All County Volleyball: Player of the Year Anderson Set Pace For LHS' Success

Friday

Dec 31, 2010 at 12:01 AMAug 16, 2011 at 10:52 AM

Members of the All-County first team.

By BRANDT MERRITT | THE LEDGER

LAKELAND | The Lakeland Dreadnaughts have been the last volleyball team standing from Polk County for the past three seasons. For the past two years, their driving force on the court has been setter Lauren Andersen, especially during the 2010 season as they made their first trip to the FHSAA Finals since 1992.

"She's had to be the one who is my coach on the floor," Lakeland coach Crystal Ramsey said.

Andersen, a senior, led the county in assists with 780 and directed a potent Lakeland offense as the Dreadnaughts finished 26-5 and undefeated against Polk County teams.

For her performance this season, Andersen is The Ledger's 2010 Volleyball Player of the Year.

As a four-year varsity starter, Andersen has played a key role for the Dreadnaughts since her freshman year. But for the first two years she played in the shadow of her older sister, Krista, who was Player of the Year in 2008 and now plays for Villanova.

Andersen said watching her sister succeed served as a great example of how to be a leader.

"Without her I probably wouldn't have done as well as I have done in my volleyball career," she said.

As the setter, Andersen controls where the Lakeland attack will come from, and it's a pressure position she said she has always embraced.

This season she had plenty of options to choose from, with the returns of senior Hope Andreadis and junior Rachel Martin and the addition of freshman Kali Boatwright. She also was dangerous attacking herself, totaling 151 kills and 71 aces.

Off the volleyball court, Andersen said she enjoys hanging out with her teammates and dominating the table tennis court, where she says she's even better than in volleyball. She also enjoys lightening the mood.

"I'm pretty funny, I like to tell jokes," she said. "I'm known for my jokes; they're not very good, everybody thinks they're corny."

Andersen has signed with Loyola University in Baltimore and will leave a huge hole on the Lakeland roster for next season, as Ramsey called her "irreplaceable."

But Andersen said she is confident her teammates will follow the example she and Andreadis, Lakeland's only other senior, left behind.

"We definitely left our mark on how to act and push yourselves and not just be content," she said.

Coach of the Year: Robin Wagman, Haines City

Haines City head coach Robin Wagman led the Hornets to a 22-4 record, their third consecutive district championship and their seventh appearance in the regional quarterfinals while continuing to undergo cancer treatment. Wagman is in her 26th season of coaching. td{border-style: none;border-color: inherit;border-width: medium;padding-top:1px;padding-right:1px;padding-left:1px;color:black;font-size:11.0pt;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;text-decoration:none;font-family:Calibri, sans-serif;text-align:general;vertical-align:bottom;white-space:nowrap;}.style1 {color: black;font-size: 11.0pt;font-weight: 700;font-style: normal;text-decoration: underline;font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;text-align: general;vertical-align: bottom;white-space: nowrap;border-style: none;border-color: inherit;border-width: medium;padding-left: 1px;padding-right: 1px;padding-top: 1px;}-->